When I moved to Arkansas, I immediately went to work after we were moved in and unpacked. I went to my new job. I completed all of the necessary paperwork including a drug test, tax withholding, etc.,which was a standard procedure for any new prospective employee.Things went well on my new job as I adjusted and got settled in to my new environment.

About two years after I started working, my supervisor called me into his office. He asked me, "Do you mind if I ask you some personal questions?" I said "no, not at all". He said that my background check came back with several offenses on it. I asked him, "Are you serious?' I told him there must be some mistake and that I have never been in trouble. The expression on his face told me that could be an element of doubt, although he was wanting to believe me. He said I had a criminal record in N. Carolina. I told him that I have never to N. Carolina. Somethings wrong.He requested a copy be sent from our main office in Memphis to our location.

In the mean time, that evening I went to my son's house still perplexed about our conversation. My daughter-in-law's brother worked for the local police dept. She called him over to the house. He took down all my information and ran a background check. Sure enough, there were six pages of offenses including a guilty verdict for carrying a concealed weapon along with court case numbers.

The next morning, after the report was obtained from the detective agency, I was determined to be exonerated. I went to the accounting dept and spoke to Rick concerning this matter. We called the detective agency that ran the report and made some phone calls to the N. Carolina courthouse.

I found out that there was another person with the same name and the same birthday!!! What's the chances?? We determined that the background check did not include middle initials. Once they put in mine, it came out clean...

I was exonerated at last, but it posed three other questions in my mind:

1. Why did it take two years before I was confronted about this questionable character? (Were they afraid that I was packing iron??)

2. With the high rate of employment in this terrible economy, I wonder how many prospective applicants were turned down at different jobs and was never told the real reason why? I doubt the perspective employer would volunteer this information unless questioned.

3. Why was I even hired knowing it was against company policy...?

Somethings we will never know, but you can be sure of one thing. You can know that it is mistaken identity when you get pulled over for not wearing a seat belt and you look in the mirror and the police pistols are drawn. This is a sign that something is wrong.

THINK IT CAN'T HAPPEN TO YOU? I called the FBI headquarters in Virginia about this situation. They told me that it happens, "quite often". Scary, Huh??

On a closing note to all my readers and fellow hubbers, I was exonerated and it was verified that I had a squeaky clean record after all.